With all of Neil Patrick Harris’ experience hosting awards shows, the actor certainly seems capable of an improvised joke. But while meeting Barack Obama, Harris choked and made a remark that wasn’t well-received by the president, he said on ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.’

Harris said he got rattled when it came time to meet the Commander-in-Chief. “You turn around a curtain and there’s the frigging President of the United States. And you quickly panic,” he said.

Harris decided to jokingly give Obama the cold shoulder. “If you don’t mind, sir, I’m kind of in the middle of something,” he said.

But this didn’t quite get the reaction Harris was hoping for. Instead, the President looked mildly irritated and Harris realized his gaffe. Watch the clip below: